The Worst Can Bring Out The Best
by Cster
Summary: My take on if the Imaginationland trilogy had been a little different. Loosely based on the episode. Probably the angstiest but fluffiest thing I've ever written. Strict Kyman. Rated M because it's South Park.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So I just now watched the whole Imaginationland Trilogy. I'm a little behind to say the least. But sorry in advance if it's not what you wanted. There's just not enough stories on these episodes which I feel have a lot of potential for some good fics if tweaked a bit. Well, I'll be doing the tweaking in terms of the Kyle/Cartman interaction. I'll try to keep the angst uh to a minimum but no promises. Also, not too sure if this will be multi or one-shot, so feedback is appreciated in that department. I intend for them to be canon aged but if it makes you feel better picture them whatever age you want. No hardcore sexual scenes or at least nothing worse than what has been shown/implied on the show.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Cartman couldn't recall being angrier in his young life than he was right fucking now. 'That stupid Jew how dare he back out of our deal at this point! We had a contract, hell he even signed it, so no excuses.'

He had finally gotten Kyle Broflovski to agree to suck his balls if Cartman could spot a leprechaun. Unfortunately for Kyle, there had indeed been a leprechaun. He had seen it with his own eyes. What a glorious moment for young Eric it was. Just the thought of Kyle wrapping his mouth around Cartman's balls gave the larger boy shivers of pure pleasure.

But the brunet was getting ahead of himself here. Kyle and he had been at the pentagon in the conference room about to fulfill the contract when Kyle had declared that 'he wasn't fucking doing it and that was final.' Cartman had almost decided to get down on his knees and beg the Jewish boy, but the alarm sounding had completely saved his dignity yet subsequently ruined any chances of Kyle sucking his balls. At least right now, Cartman corrected silently.

Kyle rushed out of the conference room with Cartman nearly jogging to keep up as he followed the redhead back into the main room of the pentagon. Stan was in a separate room helping some of the pentagon officials decode a strange message supposedly sent from Imaginationland. Although Stan was all but completely convinced the strange writing was either in another language or literal babble, he still put his best effort into finding some sort of meaning in the message.

"Little boy, you have to help us." A middle aged blonde balding man said for what might have been the thirtieth time.

Stan tried to remain patient, "I'm doing the best I can Dr. Gordon but I really don't know what this is supposed to say."

"Keep trying, you're the only one capable of this." Dr. Gordon pressed.

Stan wiped the sweat from his brow as he muttered, "I really don't see how."

"What was that Stan?"

"Nothing." Stan dismissed, continuing poring over the confounded text.

"What's going on?" Kyle asked the frantic workers as they rushed from computer to computer, typing various things and making phone calls.

"There's been a breach. It's serious this time."

Cartman rolled his eyes while crossing his arms over his chest, "How slow are you guys? That was us, sector two remember?" He gestured to the badly repaired glass wall he and Kyle had broken into twice thus far since being in the pentagon.

"No!" The woman sitting in the center of all the hustle and bustle screeched. "It's not sector two this time! It's a breach from Imaginationland. Our portal is emitting strange energy readings." She pointed to the screen directly in front of her as Kyle and Cartman leaned their heads closer together so they could both see.

Cartman was confused but too proud to admit it.

"And what exactly are we looking at?" Kyle asked boldly.

She pursed her lips. "Normally all of the energy bars would be the same height and would fluctuate very little, only from about 10-30 volts, but in the past 10 minutes the bars kept oscillating from 300-1000 volts. It's very out of the ordinary, almost as if something is trying to enter from the barrier."

"But that's impossible right?" Cartman queried. "Even if the terrorists were able to get into Imaginationland, there's no way there's the setup for the type of technological operation on the type of scale they would need in order to open the portal from the other side. Is there?" His hazel eyes were genuinely curious.

Kyle was mildly impressed with Cartman's eloquence. 'Guess he's not a total dumbass 100% of the time.'

"It's hard to say." She replied uneasily. "Honestly, it should be impossible, but something or someone is clearly trying to open it and at this rate they will probably succeed." Sparks began flying from the portal. The two boys shielded their faces.

If possible, the workers appeared even more freaked out. "Oh my God! Look!" A worker screamed as the portal began glowing a vivid red color, eerily reminiscent of a warning signal. A huge grotesque creature stepped through the portal, snarling and clearly out for blood.

Cartman hid behind the desk and tried to grab Kyle's arm to pull him behind too. 'I can't let him get hurt before he fulfills his side of the bet.' But the redhead stupidly stepped towards the intimidating creature.

"Kyle what the fuck are you doing?!" Cartman's voice had risen in pitch and was almost squeaky.

Kyle ignored him as he began trying to talk to the creature which thus far had done nothing too horrible other than growl and look threatening. 'Maybe he's not really out for blood, maybe it's a defense mechanism.' Kyle's heart pounded as he came within five feet of the monster.

Suddenly, something in the monster snapped and he began grabbing whatever or whoever was nearest him and breaking it or killing them. He snatched an aide up, decapitating him and devouring the head as he tossed the rest of the poor man's body aside like trash. Kyle froze. 'On second thought mission abort.'

Kyle began backing away but it was too late. The beast grabbed him up and began squeezing his neck.

"Kyle!" Cartman called genuinely terrified for reasons he didn't even try to dissect. He came out from behind the desk and was seconds away from running towards the redhead.

The woman worker from before inputted some codes into the computer which caused the portal to glow a bright blueish color. It began sucking everything closest to it back inside of it. First, desks, papers, and mangled body parts disappeared into it. Then the monster holding Kyle began being sucked inside slowly but surely. Just before the monster disappeared, it was shocked by hitting the side of the force field encircling the portal causing it to drop Kyle and then disappear itself. The portal then stopped glowing after the woman punched in more numbers. She leaned back, face pale, but looking quite satisfied with herself.

Cartman felt as if he had little to no control over his body as he raced towards his fallen friend/enemy. The first thing he noticed was how Kyle's normally bright green eyes were dull in color even though they were wide open. But even worse Cartman realized as a cold feeling washed over him was the fact that Kyle wasn't breathing.

"Kyle?" He asked not even noticing or concerned about the fact that his voice was shaking.

"Oh God!" A few workers ran over to where the redhead lay.

"He's not breathing. Quick get the defibrillator." One man said in what was nearly a monotone voice. Obviously he wasn't taking this seriously enough.

Cartman placed a hand over his own mouth and stifled a sob as the man hooked the machine up to Kyle's chest and shocked him with absolutely no results.

He repeated the process two more times then shook his head making eye contact with Cartman and trying to look apologetic. "I'm sorry little boy. Your friend is dead."

"No!" Cartman's tears were now falling completely unchecked as he pushed the man out of the way. "No, Kyle can't die. Kyle can't-"

"There's nothing more we can do. At least the kid doesn't have to suck anyone's balls."

Cartman was no longer thinking straight. He was thinking of every memory he had of Kyle, how they had met, how even though they fought nearly 24/7 and Cartman had more than enough insults to use a different one every day of the year and then have some left over, but most importantly how they had a mutual understanding that when things got tough, they had each other's backs. (This isn't necessarily true in canon, but let's just say it holds true here.)

He thought of Kyle's laugh, his expression when he got angry, and even the feel of the smaller boy in his arms the few times they had hugged each other. Without thinking Cartman began sobbing even more as he pressed repeatedly on Kyle's chest. "You can't die. Kyle wants to live. He has a strong heart. He's my friend."

Just when Cartman was sure Kyle was truly gone, the redhead let out a raspy cough his face still a deathly pale color. Cartman was elated as he realized Kyle was indeed alive. He slowly backed away as a medical team who had come from seemingly nowhere tended to Kyle. When they lifted him on a stretcher and began carrying him out of the room however Cartman hastily followed them. They took him into a modified hospital wing of sorts where a burly man stopped him.

"Sorry, patients only kid." Even though the man was at least 4 times Cartman's size, just in pure muscle, he didn't give a fuck. He had almost lost Kyle and he didn't intend to just leave the Jew in the hands of this possibly incompetent morons unattended.

"Well, it just so happens that's my brother in there and I need to see him."

The man was skeptical and rightly so but eventually caved when he saw Cartman's determined expression even though he could have just physically removed him from the premises.

"Have a seat right inside here and they'll let you know once he's settled into a room."

What he saw through the window scared him deeply however, Kyle had flatlined again and the doctors were once again working to bring him back. Cartman was too emotionally traumatized to remember who led him or why he had allowed himself to be led into a waiting room.

Cartman complied and waited. While waiting, he decided to go wash his face and only when he looked into the mirror did he realize how awful he looked. His eyes were red and puffy. His face was red and splotchy. Tell tale signs that he had not only cried but indeed cried a lot over Kyle at that. He refused to think any deeper other than he had been terrified of Kyle dying.

"He had a close call but he appears to be stable now. Your brother asleep but you're free to go in to see him." A young blonde woman told Cartman.

As he stepped into the room, he was quite nervous as to what state Kyle would be in. He didn't know much about anything medical except from TV, but he knew that when people's hearts stopped they normally didn't just bounce back. There were often lingering effects from the trauma and sometimes they didn't recover completely, ever. The thought sent Cartman's heart racing. 'No Kyle has to be okay.'

It made him feel better when he actually worked up the nerve to look at Kyle as he sat in a chair beside the hospital bed. Though the redhead was unconscious, he looked like he was only sleeping. His skin was closer to his normal complexion. The steady rise and fall of his chest and the regular beeping of the heart monitor signaled to Cartman that he was indeed alive and hopefully recovering.

Cartman let out a breath as he looked at Kyle like if he looked away the other boy would disappear. Cartman made sure no one else could hear him and began speaking. "Kyle, I don't know if you can hear me but I fucked up big time. I took this whole stupid sucking my balls thing way too far. And for what?" Cartman's voice cracked again. 'Damn you're turning me into a pussy Kyle.'

"So you could nearly die and end up in a hospital? I know we aren't exactly on good terms but goddamnit, I never intended for you to get hurt let alone something like this to happen. I'm *sob* really sorry." He covered his face in his hands as he tried to get a grip on his emotions.

Suddenly, the door swung open to Kyle's room. "What the fuck?!" Stan nearly shouted running to Cartman and grabbing him harshly by the shirt.

"Mind telling me why my best friend is in the hospital and dude, are you crying?" Stan's tirade was interrupted at the impossibility that Eric T. Cartman was actually crying from something that genuinely made him sad not because someone had punched him or he didn't get his way.

Cartman swallowed harshly and wiped at his eyes. "I'm not crying."

"Look I'm not going to make fun of you or anything but tell me what is going on."

Cartman decided to be honest. "Kyle was attacked by some monster, got electrocuted, and well he died technically twice. He's alive now though and on the mend according to the doctors."

Stan's jaw dropped open. "Oh God. I can't believe I was fooling around with some stupid ass message while my best friend nearly died." Stan looked as if he was about to cry himself. He went over to Kyle and gently stroked his hand. "It's okay I'm here now bro." He withdrew his hand. "So tell me why you're crying. And don't bullshit me and say you weren't."

A nurse knocked on the door before opening it. "Hey boys would you mind stepping outside for a bit? We have to run some tests on Kyle here." Neither boy made a move to leave. "You have to leave. Sorry I should have worded that better, come back in about an hour if you wish." She shooed them out.

"I guess we can get coffee or something." Stan suggested.

Cartman followed him without replying.

"So, what did the monster do to you Cartman?"

Stan really wasn't letting this go.

"It didn't do anything to me directly." He bit his lip.

The two ordered their coffees and sat down at a secluded table away from everyone else, not that there were that many people in the area anyway.

"So why were you crying again?" Stan wasn't trying to be a bastard but the chances that Cartman was upset because Kyle was in danger were slim to none. Cartman wasn't the type of person to care about anyone else deeply especially not Kyle Stan thought.

"Okay! Fine! I was crying because I thought Kyle was dead. Stan you weren't there. You didn't see how still he was or hear that godawful flatline." Reliving the memory was enough to cause Cartman to shudder.

Stan patted him awkwardly on the shoulder. "So you were legitimately concerned about Kyle? You weren't just freaking out because you thought he would die and then wouldn't do the bet?"

"Fuck the bet." Cartman said sincerely. "I just want Kyle to be okay. I'll even cut back on the Jew jokes I swear."

Stan wasn't convinced. "Well whether you're serious or not. Please don't tease Kyle for a little while at least. Until he's recovered." Cartman nodded as he sipped his latte.

"Shit!" Stan said as he looked at the time. "My mom will be wondering where the hell I am. I have to go."

"Go? As in back to South Park?"

"Yeah, I'm kind of already grounded for something to do with Wendy and well I would really hate to be grounded until I turn 18."

"Okay, I'll stay here and keep an eye on Kyle." Cartman responded instantly.

"…I can tell his mom what she needs to know but won't your mom be worried?"

He rolled his eyes, "Please, we both know my mom doesn't give two shits if I come home or not. There's a good chance she won't even notice I'm gone at first anyways."

"Okay, well see you later and if Kyle wakes up tonight tell him I was here okay?" Stan smiled slightly and left to head back to South Park.

Cartman held his head in his hands. 'Why did I freak out over Kyle so much? I mean Kenny dies all the time and my mom has had plenty of close calls with her drug addictions. Kenny's a friend and my mom's my mom, but what makes Kyle different?'

The fatter boy entered Kyle's room and sat back down in the empty chair as the nurse was leaving.

Cartman was about to doze off when he noticed something strange. Kyle was moving in his sleep and moaning, plus his heart rate was over 130 if the machine was accurate. 'Maybe he's having a nightmare.' Cartman knew how unpleasant those could be. 'I'll try to wake him up.'

"Kyle," He gently shook the redhead. "Kyle, it's just a dream, wake up."

Green eyes shot open and his breathing began to slowly return to normal. Cartman was relieved.

"What's going on Cartman? Wait, why am I in a hospital?" He moved to sit up but fell back as pain shot through him.

"Are you okay?!" Cartman asked in genuine concern.

"I don't know. My chest and back really hurt." Kyle looked and realized he had bruises all over those areas. "Well at least that explains that."

Cartman began. "Look, I don't know how much I should tell you but you had a pretty close call." Kyle listened intently bright green eyes completely focused on Cartman.

"Something attacked you and you-were hurt pretty bad." Cartman tried to keep the emotion out of his voice.

Kyle didn't say anything.

"Stan was also here earlier and said to tell you hey and he'll talk to you when you're able to go back home."

Cartman felt extremely awkward. "I can leave now if you want me to."

"No, no that's fine. I'm glad someone's here with me, even if it's you." Kyle responded good naturedly but not without a playful jab.

There was silence between the two for quite a few minutes.

"What did you dream about?"

"Hm?" Kyle asked.

"Oh, it was stupid." His face turned slightly red.

"Tell me anyway." Cartman pressed.

"I had this really bizarre dream where you and I made a bet that if you saw a leprauchaun I had to suck your balls and I stupidly signed the bet, making the contract legally binding. Then me, you, and Stan were in the Pentagon trying to help save this place called Imaginationland from terrorists. There was a portal and then a monster of sorts attacked me and the rest is just blackness. Don't laugh I know it's stupid."

Kyle looked embarrassed and Cartman kind of liked the look on him not in a humiliated way but in a dare he say cute way.

"It's not stupid Kyle." Cartman trailed off.

"Wait, it wasn't a dream was it? That really happened. Oh God." Kyle's breathing began to pick up and his heart raced frantically. Cartman recognized the symptoms of a panic attack coming on as he had had his fair share of those.

"Kyle calm down." He placed a hand on Kyle's arm. "Breathe Kyle. Just relax. It's okay, you're okay now." Cartman gently ran his hand up and down Kyle' arm until the smaller boy had calmed down. Cartman didn't want to stop touching Kyle but reluctantly withdrew his hand.

"Sorry." Kyle apologized. "I know you really don't like me and you didn't have to do that, hell any of this, but you did. By the way I guess I owe you um what I said I would do in the bet." Kyle looked a bit angry but said no more.

Cartman shook his head as he stood up. "Don't worry about the bet. You just focus on getting out of the hospital. Err the hippie can't live without you and neither can your crazy ass family." Kyle managed to sit up. "I don't understand. Why are you being so nice?"

Cartman stood up and hugged Kyle as close to him as he could get. 'I don't think I could live without you.' Cartman blushed crimson at the way Kyle felt clothed in only the thin hospital gown especially with his chest being mostly exposed. Kyle slowly wrapped an arm around Cartman also.

"What's this for?" Kyle joked.

"For being okay." Cartman said. 'Fuck the tears were coming again.'

"See you later Kyle." Cartman said and left the room and a very confused Kyle.

Cartman didn't go far, just downstairs to get a snack and walk around a bit in his thoughts. 'Why do I care so much now? I didn't give two shits about him before. Did I? Then he had to go and have a near death experience and now my heart is basically rebelling against my mind. I've never felt this way before. It's not guilt but it's not…THAT emotion either. Is it? No it can't be. Maybe it's friendship. Or..I don't know. God my head hurts from thinking about this. I want to be more to Kyle than just a frenemy. I want to be his friend. But am I really capable of being a friend to someone? I'm so selfish and fucked up. Well, I'll do my best. He deserves that at least.'

Cartman walked back to Kyle's room, thoughts still swirling, threatening to drown him in a sea of contradictions and internal conflict.

When he walked back into the room, Kyle was sitting up picking half heartedly at some mashed potatoes. He glanced up in acknowledgement, "Hey Cartman."

"Kyle."

He sat down in the vacant chair. "Look I know how you feel about me but just hear me out."

Kyle said nothing for a beat then responded shortly, "Okay, you have my undivided attention." He closed the paperback copy of A Tale of Two Cities he was reading and set it beside him neatly.

"I have done some pretty awful things to you. I've humiliated you greatly on more than one occasion. And most of all I've physically hurt you or put your life in danger many times over the years. That being said I would like to try and have a fresh start. Like give us actually being friends a chance." Cartman fidgeted slightly.

Kyle examined the brown eyes that stared intently into his own, finding no trace of a lie or any sort of malice. Cartman looked truly earnest.

"I can't forget all you've done." Kyle folded his hands over the sheets.

"And I'm not asking you to. I'm just asking if you'll give me a chance to prove that I can be more than just an asshole towards you. I also am not asking for us to be super best butt buddies, er, friends like you and Stan."

Kyle nodded. "I've always wanted to be your friend Cartman. You never gave me much of a chance to do so though. I'll try if you try." The redhead smiled at Cartman.

"Great! So when do you get out of here?" Kyle looked bored.

"They're coming in to do some more tests later today and they said they'd let me know something. By the way why aren't you at school?" Kyle asked genuinely curious.

"Uh, because school fucking sucks…." Kyle rolled his eyes. "Okay. Well I'm sure you have better things to do than sit in my hospital room."

'Not really.' Cartman thought dismally. A nurse then came in, "Would you mind leaving? We have to do some tests on Kyle here."

"Okay, see you Kyle." And Cartman was gone without another word. 'Stupid nurses. Always interrupting his alone time with Kyle.'

"So what type of tests do you need to run? I'm slightly confused as to why I'm still here." Kyle wasn't an idiot and he was getting slightly suspicious as to why he hadn't been allowed to go home yet. Other than the bad dreams, he was doing fine and felt fine. The bruising from before had faded to a dull ache so that was no longer an issue.

The nurse made a face that looked like something between a forced smile and a scowl. "We'll be doing an EKG and CAT scan." 'This was really her only answer?'

She performed the CAT scan and EKG then said quickly before Kyle could ask anymore questions. "The doctor will be in in a few minutes."

Cartman had paced around the outer waiting room a few minutes but had ultimately decided on heading back to South Park with Kyle if he would be able to leave soon. Though his mom hadn't contacted him, by this point she might be wondering where the hell he was.

The doctor came in and asked Kyle a few questions before checking his vitals. "Any fainting spells? Lapses in memory? Unexplained aches or pains?"

The doctor listened to his heart, deciding after what to Kyle seemed longer than usual that he was free to go home the next day and resume normal activities granted he had no chest pain, dizziness, etc. The doctor still instructed for him to wear a heart monitor for the next few weeks and then to go to a local doctor in South Park for a follow up appointment.

Kyle found this more than a bit strange considering his understanding of why he was here. "Doctor, can you explain what put me in the hospital? It seems like nobody's really telling me the full story."

The doctor bit his lip. He was extremely reluctant to tell Kyle exactly what had happened to keep him from panicking. So he responded with a half truth as doctors are often deign to do, "It's more of a precaution than anything. We just want to be sure you're healthy."

Cartman stopped by long after the doctor had left. "So what'd they say?" 'Damn it was freaking weird talking to Kyle like this.'

Kyle seemed a little zoned out. "They said I was free to leave tomorrow. I still feel like I'm not getting the whole truth about what happened though."

Cartman said nothing. "Good. I'll go back with you tomorrow then." Not much else was said and Cartman went downstairs to the waiting room couch and fell into a fitful sleep on one of the vacant couches.

The next morning the two boys boarded a plane for South Park. Though the plane was a three seater with Kyle and Cartman sitting beside each other in the back, the two barely spoke to one another both lost in their own separate thoughts.

They were picked up from the small South Park airport by their respective families. 'God this has been a strange ass week.'

Kyle's mom had been instructed by some aides at the Pentagon over the telephone not to ask Kyle any questions for the sake of his health. Liane was excited about a new client of hers so she was in such a hurry to get to him she didn't even think to say much to Cartman except "hi hon."

The boys quickly got into the routine of schoolwork and ended up having little free time for each other. Kenny hadn't been involved in the Imaginationland fiasco because he had been visiting family in Florida. His return was well received especially by the female population. He had acquired a nice healthy tan and his already light blonde hair had been bleached nearly platinum blonde by the sun.

Cartman acted completely different around Kyle which Kyle enjoyed as far as the complete lack of insults but Cartman always got weird at P.E. If they played any type of contact game, Cartman never targeted Kyle and was never far away from him either. At first, Kyle perceived it as his ex enemy trying to be nice, but it soon began to grate on the Jewish boy's nerves. Today was the day shit really hit the fan so to speak. They were playing dodgeball and Clyde and Kyle were the last ones standing on their respective teams. Clyde kept chasing Kyle around who was struggling to catch his breath. Kyle had started coughing and immediately Cartman had ran over to him, breaking the rules of the game and completely cursing out Clyde for cheating even though he had done nothing of the sort. Cartman also kept threatening to punch 'his retarded ass into oblivion.' Clyde had gotten upset and had had Token and Craig, halfheartedly on Craig's part, come to the chubby boy's rescue.

After catching his breath, Kyle rounded on Cartman interrupting Token's tirade. "You and I need to have a serious talk outside, let's go."

The P.E. teacher was extremely unathletic himself and spent most of the period inside rewatching old sports re-runs, mostly of himself in his glory days so the two boys would be able to go unnoticed easily.

Kyle barely waited until they were out of earshot of the others to grab Cartman by the shirt and pin him against the wall, which was a feat in itself considering not only the weight difference but the height difference also. "What the hell are you doing? Why are you babying me? I fucking hate that. I'm perfectly capable of handling myself in a game of dodgeball fatass."

Kyle looked slightly apologetic for use of the word but didn't say anything further. "I don't know! Maybe because you were fucking coughing and it looked like you couldn't breathe." Cartman crossed his arms, huffing angrily. He hated not getting his way and this time was no exception.

"I was fine! You act like I'm going to break or something and I wish you would just stop."

Cartman had been mostly staring at Kyle chest while he was yelling at him and noticed the top few buttons on his shirt were open. He poked the thing attached to his chest curiously, "What's this?"

Kyle rolled his eyes. "None of your fucking business! God! I'm not a little girl to be protected okay?! Let's get that through your thick head. I get this shit enough from my own family and I definitely don't need it from the likes of you."

"Seriously Kyle what is that?"

Kyle groaned irritably, "It's a heart monitor. The doctor is making me wear it for a while since I was in the hospital." He buttoned the top buttons on his shirt self consciously.

"Now you're going to explain to me why you keep acting weird. Like I know we're friends now but that doesn't give you the right to treat me like I'm some porcelain doll."

Cartman grabbed Kyle by the shoulders. "Calm down. I'll..tell you sometime but here and now is not the time."

"Yeah fucking right!" Kyle yelled pushing Cartman roughly. "When will be the right time huh? The doctors never told me shit and now I'm having these crazy ass nightmares and they get darker and more twisted each night. And I have no idea why."

Cartman felt like an ass for not noticing before but Kyle had noticeable dark circles under his eyes now and his eyes were slightly bloodshot. "I promise I'll tell you the full truth but you can't freak out on me and you have to let me tell you one on one okay?"

Kyle nodded not really believing Cartman. "Okay."

Good the firy redhead had finally calmed down some. "Well Kyle we can stay out here and talk or we can go back in gym." He pushed the redhead playfully.

Kyle shook his head. "That was just too fucking embarrassing earlier. I'm not going back in there today. Let's skip."

"Gasp. I didn't know the Jew had it in him to skip. I always thought you were a goody two shoes."

Kyle smirked. "There's probably a lot of things you don't know about me." He led Cartman away from the school and to Stark's Pond.

"It's nice out here." Cartman remarked surprisingly as he took off his coat.

Kyle nodded and leaned back against a log. "Really relaxing."

The two talked and just enjoyed each other's company until it got close to 3:30.

"We better start walking back now or the bus will leave us and then my mom will flip her shit."

"It's because she's a-"

Kyle cut him off with a grin, "Don't even start."

The next day at school Stan and Kyle decided to plan a sleepover because the four friends hadn't spent any time together lately. "It'll be just like old times." Stan said happily. He had noticed something was different between Kyle and Cartman lately but he would have to find out later, maybe at the sleepover exactly what was going on.

The four met up at Cartman's house ready for some video games, snacks galore, and gory horror movies. Kenny was cool the first part of the night but progressively got boreder and border and eventually went to sleep after staying in the bathroom for 2 hours. "Probably took him forever to jerk it to MILFS R US porn. You know because of how old and nasty they are." Cartman had said crudely.

Stan yawned in the middle of the newest exorcism movie . He had planned to get Kyle alone to ask him what the deal had been between him and Cartman but the sheer exhaustion of the week was creeping up on him. "Night guys." Stan laid down in a sleeping bag on the other side of Kenny and was out like a light.

Kyle shook his head in an attempt to wake himself up. His nightmares hadn't ended since leaving the hospital. Some nights he dreamed the same one from the hospital but with a slightly darker tinge to it, but others he would dream that he died. The worst part about the death dreams were that they felt so eerily real. He would always wake up, heart racing and breathing hard and it would take him forever to calm down. Sometimes he wouldn't even go back to sleep because of them. He wondered if he ever screamed in real life since screaming in his dreams was a common thing to him now. He supposed not considering his mom, dad, or Ike had yet to mention it to him or to come and check on him in the middle of the night.

Cartman stretched his arms out tapping Kyle on the shoulder. "Damn I'm beat. You about ready for bed Jew?"

Kyle shook his head. "I'm not tired actually. I'll just probably sit up and finish the movie."

"Dude, this is the special features and deleted scenes one. There's at least 4 hours left on it. Plus, it's..2AM already." He said after looking at his phone.

"I said I'm not tired." Kyle said firmly.

"That's bullshit and you know it." Cartman crossed his legs and glared at Kyle. "I literally just saw you shaking your head and you have bags under your eyes. Ginger people can't hide that shit you know."

Kyle laughed at the familiar insult. It felt like it had been forever since Cartman had ragged on him. It felt damn good. "At least I'm not a fucking fatass." Kyle pressed, hoping to get a rise from him. He liked nice Cartman in a lot of ways but one of the things that dare he say he liked the most about Cartman was how passionate he got when he insulted someone or argued with them, this person was usually Kyle and he supposed it was natural for him to miss the extra attention.

"I'm big boned you dumbass." Cartman replied while pulling the covers back.

Kyle smiled widely.

Cartman looked at Kyle expectantly. "Well, are you coming to bed or not?"

Kyle blushed at the intimacy of the question, luckily it was pretty dim in the room, the only light being from Cartman's lamp on the lowest lighting power.

"I have a sleeping bag. I'll crash in there when I get ready."

"Let me rephrase what I said. Come to bed, Jew." Cartman grabbed the thinner boy who was sitting on the bed near him by the arm and when he was close enough picked him up bridal style and tucked him under the covers. Kyle was too shell shocked to resist.

Kyle opened his mouth in protest and tried to get up but Cartman stretched a beefy arm across Kyle effectively preventing that.

"You're having nightmares right? That's why you don't want to sleep." It wasn't a question but a statement.

"I'm not telling you what they're about Cartman."

He laughed softly. "I wasn't expecting you too. I'm not telling you what mine are about either but I have nightmares as well. I want to try something though that might help both of us." Cartman had always had nightmares ever since he could remember. At first, they were of how his dad would respond if he ever met him. When he realized his mother had a drug problem, they involved her overdosing and dying in the most grotesque manner and him finding her body. Recently his dreams had been haunted by the memory of Kyle's dead body. His mind was warped and oftentimes his nightmares made the memory even worse than it had actually been if that was even possible. Sometimes his body was mutilated or mangled. Sometimes he told Cartman he had something extremely important to tell him before dying. Cartman shuddered at the thoughts.

"Are you okay?" Kyle asked. "You spaced out there for a bit and it looked like your thoughts were anything but pleasant."

Cartman forced a smile. "I'm fine. But anyway, when I was younger my mom would let me lie in bed with her and just hold me. Sometimes that kept the nightmares away. If you're cool with that, I'll try and see if that helps."

"I don't know." Kyle said reluctantly. "That sounds kind of gay. And it probably won't even help."

Cartman shrugged. "It's no gayer than Kenny getting a stiffy facing Stan with Stan having his mouth open like a whore." He pointed. "I can tell you could use the sleep if it does work."

Kyle looked in the direction Cartman had pointed and, even though the light was dim, the redhead could indeed makeout that what Cartman had said was true. Even if it wasn't exactly the same thing…

Kyle sighed not even trying to refute Cartman's logic tonight. 'I'm so tired. I guess I can give it a shot, maybe he won't do something crazy to me in my sleep.' Kyle relaxed against the pillow and allowed Cartman to wrap his arms around him. Kyle was instantly twice as warm and felt himself drifting off to sleep at the comforting feeling of Cartman's arms as well as his chest touching Kyle's back

Kyle could have sworn he heard Cartman say "Goodnight my Jew" as he felt something warm touch his cheek but then he was unconscious getting some much needed rest.

A/N: Whew! This isn't finished obviously but I think I'll split it here considering it's already at 13 pages. Also, I have nothing against doctors! I want to be one! An animal one but a doctor (vet) nevertheless so don't take offense to the comments about them. XD


	2. Chapter 2

When Kyle awoke he found himself in a rather compromising position. During the night, Cartman had wrapped both of his arms possessively around Kyle bringing Kyle's face flush with Cartman's chest. Somehow Cartman's and Kyle's legs had also entangled making their position even more intimate than it already was. 'Thank God neither one of us has morning wood or this would be significantly worse.' Kyle thought thankfully. He tried to untangle himself from Cartman without waking the snoring boy up. Though definitely still fat 'not big boned fat. Sorry deal with it.' Cartman's chubbiness wasn't that bad of a thing Kyle decided. He was extremely warm pressed against Kyle and he decided that, to his chagrin, being fat or chubby he decided was the nicer term, suited Cartman and he just wouldn't be the Cartman he loved to hate if he was skinny.

Meanwhile, Stan sleeping peacefully when an arm began to shake him roughly. "Wha?" He half said half groaned. Kenny shoved his hand over Stan's mouth in an attempt to get him to shut up. "Look." Kenny whispered. Stan rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked in the direction Kenny was pointing.

"Why are you pointing at Cartman? I see that fatass enough the rest of the time you know." Stan responded more than a little irritable at being woken up.

"No, Kyle is in the bed with him and look at the way their practically molesting each other. Shit would be hot as fuck if I was gay or bi. Hell, I might beat it to it anyway. Kyle kind of looks like a girl from the side and Cartman sort of has tits." Kenny shamelessly shoved his hand in his pants.

"What the fuck?!" Stan said in a normal tone of voice and stood up from his sleeping bag and getting as far away from Kenny as he could but not without nudging the blonde harshly with his foot.

"Fuck man that hurt. Plus that was unnecessary." Kenny withdrew his hand from his pants in disappointment as Cartman had now woken up, disconnected from Kyle, and was sitting up glaring at the poorer boy.

"You better not have been about to jack off in my room. I will literally kill you. I'm the only one who can do that. You know the rules!"

Kenny mumbled, "You would let Kyle I bet."

"What was that?!" Cartman screeched.

Kenny rolled his eyes. "Fuck it. I'm leaving. Can't get no damn action here anyway." His boner was extremely obvious in his pajama pants as he walked downstairs. Cartman heard the door slam and laid back on his bed.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Why did he even come then?" Kyle turned on his side looking at Cartman as he asked.

"Probably for the free food like the fucking freeloader he is. He is seriously disgusting sometimes. He shouldn't have come to an all male sleepover with his friends if he wanted to 'get some action'." Cartman emphasized his point with air quotes.

Kyle giggled and shoved Cartman playfully. The larger boy shoved him back. The game went on like that until Cartman decided to tickle him. Stan walked in. "God really? I'm leaving."

"See you hippie!" Cartman called while Kyle managed to get out a "See you later Stan!" between laughs.

After a while the two grew tired of their games and Cartman elected to watch TV, which Kyle found boring but it beat heading back home to his house where his mom was likely to bitch about something or another.

"So," Cartman turned his attention back to Kyle. "Did you sleep well my sleeping Jew?"

Kyle flushed slightly, "Don't call me that. And yeah I did actually. No nightmares whatsoever. You?"

Cartman sighed contentedly. "Nope. Slept like a baby for a change. Twas nice." He said smiling at Kyle. Kyle wasn't sure why but he hoped Cartman wasn't just talking about his sleep. 'What a faggy thought.'

"Are you finally going to stop treating me like I'm breakable though?" Kyle instantly changed the whole mood of the conversation. "And tell me what you know that apparently I don't."

"Your nightmares have stopped. There's no need to tell you Kyle. But I don't see why you have such a problem with having someone watch out for you. God knows you need it Jew boy." Cartman tried to look as nonchalant as possible but secretly he was freaking out.

Kyle groaned. "You agreed to tell me the truth so you better start talking or I'm leaving and you can forget us ever trying to be friends. I mean it Cartman. And I don't like being protected because I'm not a little girl! I can take care of myself. Plus you doing the protecting is just…I don't know. It's wrong."

Cartman quirked an eyebrow. "How is it wrong as you say?"

"Don't change the subject. Answer my first fucking question and I'll answer yours. I swear."

"By the moon, the stars, and the skies?" Cartman asked batting his eyes playfully.

"If that's what it takes to get some answers then yes." Kyle said stubbornly.

"…well say it."

"Say what?"

"The rest of your promise Kyle."

"You are insufferable Cartman. But fine I swear by the moon, the stars, and the skies that I will answer your question if you answer mine. Now answer the damn question."

Cartman couldn't describe how happy it made him for Kyle to say that.

"Okay, this isn't going to be something you want to hear but since you begged and bitched for it, here you go."

Cartman cleared his throat nervously. "The dream you keep having. It happened. The pentagon, the monster, the aides, and even you." He gulped. "dying."

Kyle gasped. "You're lying. There has to be another explanation."

"No, Kyle. I'm seriously. You got electrocuted after being thrown and attacked by that monster and your heart stopped."

Kyle almost regretted getting Cartman to tell him what happened not because of the news he was hearing. He had guessed it had been something fairly serious for the doctors to force him to have 3 EKGs done in a period of 2 weeks. But from Cartman's reaction to what he was telling Kyle it looked like it almost caused him physical pain.

Kyle was silent.

"They tried to revive you for about a minute and then gave up. I…went over there and made them try again. Your heart eventually started beating again and they rushed you to the hospital." Cartman shook with emotion.

"Cartman." Kyle said trying to comfort the larger boy and not really sure why he cared so much that he was so upset by it.

Cartman allowed Kyle to hug him. "You were so cold. And then once we got to the hospital, I was the only one there with you and the doctors said your heart stopped again. That time you were gone for about 2 minutes. I wasn't allowed in there but I saw through the—glass." Cartman looked up at Kyle. He wasn't crying but his eyes held raw emotion.

Kyle decided to ask the question on his mind anyway.

"But, why? Why did you suddenly care so much?"

"I thought I would never get to insult you again. I thought I would never get to humiliate you again. I thought I would never get to fight with you again." Kyle began to get angry.

"But it was more than that. I thought I would never see you again. I thought I would never get to see you smile or hear you laugh. Or well, do this." And Cartman pulled out of Kyle's embrace just long enough to kiss the redhead on the lips. It was a simple, chaste kiss. It didn't last more than a few seconds and there was no tongue involved. Cartman looked away looking like he could die of embarrassment.

He cleared his throat. "It wasn't a sudden thing. I just suddenly realized what I've felt fore- a long time."

"And no pressure Kyle. I don't expect you to return my feelings or anything like that. But let's just suffice it to say I do care quite a lo-"

He was cut off by Kyle tackling him and pressing his own lips to Cartman's. This kiss lasted substantially longer. Cartman kissed back hungrily once Kyle licked his lips asking for entrance. When the two finally did disconnect, they were both breathless, faces fully flushed.

"Wow." Cartman said.

Kyle hugged him again. "Wow is right."

The two enjoyed each others warm embrace for a while longer. "So I guess I retract my earlier statement." Kyle said.

"Hm?" Cartman asked as he stroked the redhead's curly hair.

"I guess it's not so wrong if you protect me now."

"And why is that?" Cartman smirked.

"Well, unless that was a 'we're such good friends kiss' I would think it would be your job to protect your boyfriend." Kyle stated boldly. "If you can handle it of course."

Cartman couldn't stop the smile from engulfing his whole face. "Hell no! I mean hell yes! I mean Kyle will you be my boyfriend?"

Kyle grinned, "Only if you agree to keep insulting me and let me have some independence. I get enough of senseless coddling from my mom. Thank God she doesn't know much about this or she wouldn't let me leave my house."

Cartman crossed his heart dramatically. "Don't worry about the insulting my lovely Jew. It comes naturally. As for independence, I trust your judgment but if someone messes with you or you ever feel in danger you know who to call."

Cartman kissed Kyle on the top of the head.

"This might be a little too soon to say." Cartman began.

"I love you too fatass." Kyle said without missing a beat.

"No fair! Greedy Jew always have to beat me to everything." Cartman grumbled.

"I love you Kyle." Cartman said as he pressed his lips to his boyfriend's once again.

A/N: This may suck but it's finally finished. I just wanted to do my version of what could have happened after Imaginationland and feel like this piece is now finished! I could always lengthen it or do a sequel where they're together and how they deal with coming out to their families and whatnot. I posted the new chapter of TBT as well so no one can complain I'm neglecting it while working on this one, even if that is partly true.


End file.
